The latest on California politics and government

August 13, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown said today that "humanity is getting dangerously close to the point of no return" on climate change, and he launched a website criticizing conservatives who dispute its significance.

The website "Climate Change: Just the Facts," is hosted by Brown's Office of Planning and Research. It devotes one page to "the denialists" and another to rebutting "common denialist arguments."

The Democratic governor, in Stateline, Nev., for the annual Tahoe Summit, has long been frustrated by conservative politicians who say the effect of global warming is overstated, or who argue government intervention to address climate change is a drag on the economy.

"Global warming's impact on Lake Tahoe is well documented. It is just one example of how, after decades of pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, humanity is getting dangerously close to the point of no return," Brown said in a prepared statement. "Those who still deny global warming's existence should wake up and honestly face the facts."

Brown signed legislation last year requiring California utilities to obtain one-third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and his administration is seeking to promote projects that could create 20,000 new megawatts of renewable energy projects by that year.